Centre for Policy Studies report on social care: CCN responds

Today the Centre for Policy Studies have released a new report, examining how to pay for adult social care.

You can read the report’s main findings here. Below, the County Councils Network responds.

Cllr David Williams, County Councils Network spokesman for health and social care, said:

“Today’s report is another contribution to the debate on how to sustainably fund adult social care. Last summer, the County Councils Network (CCN) launched a paper on future options for adult social care and called for a real debate over how to pay for social care.

“We need to find a solution that tackles existing demand for services and protects individuals from catastrophic care costs. Local taxes will continue to be part of the solution, but changes to national taxation, insurance options and mean-testing benefits should be honestly debated as potential solutions and we need the government’s green paper to genuinely tackle the difficult questions.

“However, we do not believe a national funding solution requires a downgrading of the role of councils in social care. For any social care reform is to be successful, it will be imperative that social care remains a local service, with councils having the financial track record, commissioning expertise, and local accountability that the health service does not necessarily have.

“Today’s report also presents overly-simplistic arguments on why there is insufficient residential properties across the country. It neglects to outline that in the rural areas with the highest proportion of elderly residents, the social care local authority is not the planning authority; nor does it touch on the fragile nature of local care markets.

“The report is right to outline the dearth of retirement properties, but proposes the wrong solutions. In contrast, CCN’s paper recommends reforms to the planning system and better incentives for private developers to increase provision.”